I had a question sent via DM on Instagram from agent called Nick.

Nick asked “ Rick, in terms of lighting for my little studio That’s 4m wide I’m thinking 1 to 2 citi 300 and 2 pika 200s. That should do it?”

In the video below I go over how I would approach this question and it may not be what you would think.

When looking at what gear (in this case lights ) it’s best to ascertain what you need the light to do for you.  To do that you need to think about what you shoot and how you generally go about it.

Do you need a powerful flash to take on the sun for location work or do you need something portable and smaller for a smaller space? 

Other things to consider other than flash output and power are.

1. Power source.  Mains V Battery.  What works best for your workflow. ?

2. Flash duration – Do you need to be able to stop action with flash or are you mostly shooting still subjects?

3. Do you need consistency shot to shot or can you get away with a cheaper unit at the expense of that?

Think through what work you shoot for yourself or clients and when considering what power of flash to go for consider buying something more powerful than you think you will need.  I say this for a few reasons.

1. It means you can run the flash les hard and save on battery ( if battery powered).  Instead of running a 200ws light at ½ to full power all the time you would run a 400 at 1/4 to 1/2 power instead.

2. If you have more flash power in reserve it gives you options for those times you need it.

3. A more powerful flash at a lower power will yield a shorter flash duration, assuming the flash is IGBT based and the duration shortens on lower power settings.  As camera become higher in resolution, they also become more unforgiving of movement or camera shake.

I go over all this in the video below.

Thank you for sending the question in Nick.

Rick